The Cat Is Out of the Bag

December 8

After four heartbreaking losses to open up the season, any one of which could have been a win, we decided not to let Saturday’s game against John Jay go down to the wire. Instead, we took control early, going up 27-11 at halftime before closing the deal for a 30-point win, 60-30. Our junior captain Emily Haeuser led us to victory with 22 points and nine boards, followed by freshman Brittany Parks with 15 points and my own season-high of 13. We also relied heavily on the defensive ability of Jenica Law and Sarah Warner to shut down John Jay’s top player and we received a great effort from freshman Kristyn Tempora on the boards (she had 10). Seven of the eight players who played were able to score, with Emilie Haft calmly sinking a pair of free throws midway through the second half for her first points of the season.

Apparently at some point during the game, after a nifty pass from Kristyn to House (Haeuser), Coach Ruppel, impressed with the assist, screamed, “It’s out of the bag!” This prompted Sarah ‘Swarner’ Warner to whisper to Kristyn during a foul shot “Hey! The cat’s out of the bag!” The phrase caught on in the locker room after the game, since not only was it a good joke during the game, but it symbolized our efforts on Saturday afternoon. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when I walked into the locker room today to see that one of teammates had drawn a cat and a paper bag on the whiteboard, with our new favorite slogan written above. The cat IS out of the bag, our first win is on the board, and it was a good one. But more importantly, we were able to really enjoy each other. Something as simple and silly as the phrase ‘the cat’s out of the bag’ was able to make us all laugh and start practice off on a good note, players and coaches alike.

We began practice watching film and scouting a very solid Western Connecticut State team, and acknowledged the fact that tomorrow’s game will be a challenge, but not one that we aren’t up for. The most any team can ask of themselves is to come and play as hard as they can for 40 minutes, and that is what our coaches want us to focus on heading into tomorrow night’s game. If we do that, we can really make a statement tomorrow night. After all, the cat IS out of the bag, right?